Solid,
stitch-filled designs work best on sturdy
burlap. Avoid lighter designs (such as Redwork and vintage-stitch
designs) as these delicate stitches may
"disappear" into the
burlap weave.
For additional tips about embroidering
burlap,
see this Fabrics 101 article.

Finished Size:57"
long by 16" wide.
You can make the table runner any size you
like.

The first step is to decide how
long and wide you want your
table runner to be. Remember,
the ruffle ends add a total of
15" to the length. I want my
table runner to be about 57 1/2"
long by 16" wide, so I cut a
piece of the burlap to 42" long
by 16" wide.

I prepared paper templates of the
designs by printing them at full
size with embroidery software. If
you haven't used templates for
design placement before,
click here for a quick tutorial.
I arranged the templates on the
fabric how I wanted them, leaving at
least 1 1/2" between the top and
bottom edges of the designs and the
top and bottom edges of the fabric.
I also measured equal distances
between the outer side edges of the
designs. Then I poked holes in the
center of the templates with an
air-erase pen, marked the fabric
there, and marked the horizontal and
vertical axis points.

Next I removed the templates and
drew lines connecting the marks, to
line up the fabric in the hoop in
the next step. I sprayed a piece of
medium weight cutaway stabilizer
with temporary adhesive and smoothed
the fabric on top. Then I added a
piece of water soluble stabilizer on
top of the burlap. This topping
helps keep the edges of the
embroidery crisp and clean.

I hooped all three layers together
by aligning the marks on the hoop
with the lines on the fabric. Then I
attached the hoop to my machine,
loaded the first design, and
embroidered the design. For more
about embroidering on burlap,
click here for a Fabrics 101 article.

After the design had finished, I
trimmed away the excess stabilizer
from the backside of the embroidery.
I tore away the water stabilizer
topping, removing any remaining bits
with a tweezers. You can also wet
your fingers and brush any remaining stabilizer away. Then I repeated
the steps above to embroider the
rest of the designs.

Next I prepared the ruffle trim
for the short ends of the runner. To
prepare the top half of the trim, I
cut a piece of print cotton fabric
using the width of the burlap
section by 6" high. I turned the top
long edge of the fabric in 1/2" to
the wrong side and pressed with an
iron. Then I turned the folded edge
over another 1/2" to the wrong side
and pressed, and finished the edge
by sewing a 1/4" seam along the
folded edge.

For the bottom half of the trim I
cut a piece of print cotton fabric
using the width of the burlap by 5"
high. I turned the bottom long edge
of the fabric in 1/4" to the wrong
side and pressed, then zigzag
stitched along the raw edge of the
fold.

Then
I aligned the long raw edges of
the top and bottom halves, right
sides together, pinned in place, and
sewed a 1/4" seam along the pinned
edge only.

I pressed the back seam open and
turned the short side edges in 1/4"
to the wrong side once again and
pressed. Then I sewed a 1/8" seam
along each folded short end. I
repeated this process for a total of
two trim pieces (one for each short
end of the runner).

To create the ruffle effect, sew a
1/4" seam along the entire top edge
of the trim (along the existing seam
-- sew back and forth at the start,
but sew straight off the opposite
edge at the end). Next, sew another
seam 1/4" under the first seam all
along the top edge of the trim
(secure the start and leave the
opposite end open as you did with
the first seam).

Separate the
threads at the open ends. Hold the
bobbin threads from each seam in one
hand and bunch the fabric together
along the seams with your other
hand. Move the fabric down the
seams, ruffling as you go. Ruffle
the fabric until it is the same
width as the burlap section minus 2"
to allow for the fringed edges that
will be added later (mine is 16" wide
minus 2" equals 14" wide). Tie off
the bobbin threads and trim them. Do
this on both trim fabric pieces.

To add the back fabric to the
embroidered burlap section, I laid
the embroidered top piece on top of
the burlap, wrong sides together,
pinned in place, and cut around the
shape. Then I sewed a 1/2" seam
along each short end and a 1" seam
along each long edge (the seam
allowance along the long edges will
be fringed). I sewed each seam twice
to strengthen them and keep the
fabric from fraying.

Then I fringed the seam allowance
along each long edge by removing the
long threads and trimming the
remaining threads so they are even.

To add the ruffled trim pieces, pin them at
each end with about 1" of the top
edge of the trim extending onto the
burlap section. Then sew a 1/4" seam
across the top edge of the trim to
tack it in place. And your table
runner is ready to go!

Add a
touch of country-style texture to any table
with a ruffle burlap table
runner!